Tag-Archive for » Customer Service «

Guest Blogger Rebecca Morgan Asks, “When Should Extra Charges Be Disclosed?”

September 02nd, 2010 | Author: Marilyn

Today’s guest blogger is Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC. You’ve seen her on Oprah. She’s been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Malaysia’s Star newspaper and the Borneo Bulletin, to name a few. She is an international speaker, bestselling author – a pro at workplace effectiveness.

No one likes a surprise bill. Whether if it’s for more than expected, or for something you thought was included in the price. So when should any extra charges be discussed?

Common sense says they should be discussed before the service is provided or the product delivered. But some employees are either timid about mentioning it or not aware that the customer may have a problem with the increased charge.

Case in point: A recent unexpected charge after a doctor’s visit.

For the last 10 years, I’ve belonged to an HMO that covers nearly everything for a reasonable co-pay. Name-brand prescriptions are more, and a few procedures may cost an extra co-pay. I’m grateful that I’ve been healthy and not had onerous health expenditures. So imagine my surprise to be billed $550 for a 30-second medical procedure that I thought was included in my co-pay.

Common sense says that any unexpected charges should be discussed before the service is provided or the product delivered.

While I suppose I should have asked the doctor if there would be an extra charge, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to ask since in the last 10 years, I’ve not been charged more than the co-pay for this bi-annual check up. I realize that doctors often don’t know if there is an extra charge, but I think now, in these days of financial uncertainty, it is their responsibility to discuss with the patient that there may be. There can then be a discussion on how critical the procedure is and the nurse or MA can look up the charge before the procedure is done. I think saddling a patient with an unexpected $550 charge for a non-critical procedure is unacceptable. more…

Guest Blogger Brian Jameson Shares: 6 Pieces of Research Every Customer Service Pro Should Know

August 26th, 2010 | Author: Marilyn

Today’s guest blogger is Brian Jameson. Brian is the Marketing Director for RiverStar Software, where he focuses on Product Marketing, including market research, product innovation, and content marketing. RiverStar provides Customer Experience Software (Agent Desktop, Web Self Service, Social Monitoring & Engagement, & BPM Tools) for Enterprise Contact Centers & Contact Center BPOs. Brian recently received an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management (Ranked #1 in Int’l Business by US News).

Looking to make your point in a presentation about customer service? Trying to sell the case to the boss about why he or she should really care about the customer experience? Considering a foray into social customer service? How about some facts and figures about Social CRM? Stats make a good argument, and help give you instant credibility. On top of that, they are interesting and fun to read. Here are a few that you may find valuable whether you are making the case to the executive team or simply writing a blog post.

1. Good customer service = Bottom line results.

Stat(s): A majority (61%) of Americans report that quality customer service is more important to them in today’s economic environment and will spend an average of 9% more when they believe a company provides excellent service.
Source: American Express Global Customer Service Barometer, August 2010

An overwhelming 85% of your business could potentially be lost due to poor customer service.

2. Poor customer service = Lost customers.

Stat(s): 17% will leave you after a single service mess up; 40% will leave you after two blunders and 28% will leave after the third mistake. That adds up to an overwhelming 85% of your business that could potentially be lost due to poor customer service.
Source: BIG Research, Jun 2010

3. Declining consumer use of telephone as a support channel = increasing use of self service as a support channel.

Stat: 45% of consumers prefer to communicate with customer service over NON-telephone channels (i.e. web self service, social media, email, etc).
Source: Ovum, Genesys “Global Cross Channel Survey”, March 2010
Stat(s): 36% of online US customers crave self-reliance for service. That preference is even stronger among younger customers: 46% of 18- to 29-year-olds and 42% of 30- to 42-year-olds prefer to be self-reliant. Only 28% of respondents prefer to resolve a service issue by speaking to someone on the phone.
Source: Forrester Research more…

Category: Customer Service, guest blogger | Tags: Customer Experience, Customer Service, customer service statistics, Research, Social CRM, Stats | Leave a Comment

Guest Blogger Tim Sanchez Shares: The Power of Social Media, and an Apology

August 04th, 2010 | Author: Gladys

Today’s guest blogger is Tim Sanchez, the General Manager of ABIS Consulting Group, an enterprise software and consulting firm in Houston, TX. He has provided project management, implementation, and consulting services to a number of small and medium sized businesses since joining the company in 2003. He shares his passion for remarkable customer experiences at DeliverBliss.com.

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about a poor experience my wife had at The Gap. I thought it was a good story that conveyed the importance of consistency in the customer experience. I certainly didn’t write it expecting any response or retribution from The Gap, but that’s exactly what I ended up with.

The Gap is Listening

Like most of my posts, it was published around 2:00 AM. By 8:45 AM, someone from The Gap had seen the post (I know this because of the site analytics tool I use). That piqued my interest a little, but I assumed they were using a social listening tool, like Radian6 or something similar. Then the hits really started coming in. The visits and page views from The Gap continued all day; I believe it was over 60 views when I checked it later that afternoon. After the number of visits continued to climb, I started thinking they might actually contact me about the incident, but I wasn’t holding my breath. After all, why should a huge company care about a pissant blogger like me? more…

Category: Communicating with Customers, Customer Service, Dissatisfied customer, Listening, customer service performance, guest blogger, performance, social media | Tags: Customer Service, Deliver Bliss, the Gap, Tim Sanchez, Who's Your Gladys | Leave a Comment

Guest Blogger Holly Stiel Shares: The 5 Most Important Questions for Every Employee

July 29th, 2010 | Author: Gladys

Today’s guest blogger is Holly Stiel. Holly appears in chapter 7 of our bestselling book, “Who’s Your Gladys?” for her work with Preston Wynne Spa. Even in a profession defined by superlative service, Holly Stiel stands out as an authority and pioneer in the field of concierge services and superlative customer service.

Over the years I have been asked countless times, “How do we make training stick?” and “How can we create and become the kind of company that revolves around service?” They know they want the type of environment and the type of employees who live and breathe service — creating a grand experience for the customer and renowned for their property and brand.

While I get asked these questions often, I find the commitment to do the work required to actually have such a company culture is not as enticing to these executives and managers as the idea of it. It’s like wanting to be thin and buff but not wanting to eat a healthy diet and exercise. Some clients claim they want a “sea change” when it comes to their customers’ service experience. They say, “We want to have concierge-type services. We want our people to behave like the employees of The Four Seasons.” When I tell them what is involved in actually having this type of service culture they usually say, “Well, we didn’t mean exactly like the Four Seasons — something sort of like that, something easy!”

Creating a service- and customer-experience-based company culture is quite simple. It’s not easy, just deceptively simple!

Well, there isn’t partway (like partially pregnant) when it comes to superb customer service a la The Four Seasons model. What I think they are really asking for is a Vitamin C pill or a shot of B-12 – an easy fix. It doesn’t work that way to create a total Sea Change. Actually, creating a service- and customer-experience-based company culture is quite simple. It’s not easy, just deceptively simple! more…

Category: Best practices, Customer Service, Leadership, attitude, customer service mindset, customer service performance, group dynamics, internal customer, performance | Tags: Customer Service, Holly Stiel, Leadership, service excellence, Who's Your Gladys | Leave a Comment

Quick Email Tips to Improve the Customer Experience

April 12th, 2010 | Author: Marilyn

Too many business emails are written in a predictable and robotic manner. Service-focused email offers your business a way to stand out from the crowd and make a positive and lasting impression on your customers.

Email is a tricky form of communication. What you write and what the customer reads can turn out to be polar opposities. Here’s a quick example – you want to get straight to the point so you write:

“Attached you will find the XYX form. Please sign and return by Friday.”

What impression does this leave on the customer? At best, no impression at all. At worst, it comes across cold and impersonal. How do you warm it up? Try this:

“Thank you for requesting a XYZ form. I’ve attached it to this email. Please sign and return it by Friday. I look forward to serving you!”

Both versions are short and to the point, but the second version adds friendly phrases and a more personal feel.

Email is a tricky form of communication. What you write and what the customer reads can turn out to be polar opposites.

Here are ten quick email tips to help you leave a positive and lasting impression on your customers.

When using email, DO:

Create a decision tree for common types of incoming customer email. A decision tree is a visual flow chart that shows what type of response to make for the different type of requests that come in. It takes a bit of time and forethought to create a decision tree, but once done, it will help ensure that every email has a positive impact on the customer’s relationship with your company. It also speeds up your response time and helps ensure that your company is consistent in the way it responds to common customer scenarios. more…

Category: Best practices, Communicating with Customers | Tags: business emails, Customer Service, email do's and don'ts | Leave a Comment

Guest Blogger Douglas Hanna Shares: Delta Gets Proactive

April 07th, 2010 | Author: Marilyn

Today’s guest blogger is Douglas Hanna, the CEO of A Small Orange, a high-end web hosting company that prides itself on quality customer service and support. In addition to his role at A Small Orange, Douglas founded and writes for Service Untitled, a popular blog on customer service and the customer service experience.

About a week ago, I received a letter from Delta Air Lines with some surprising news. Because a flight I took on December 14 was delayed close to five hours due to weather issues at the airport, the airline was giving me a fairly large amount of SkyMiles as a way to apologize. The letter, which was signed by the company’s General Manager of Customer Care, said the gift was a way for Delta to “demonstrate its commitment to service excellence and as a gesture of apology for its service failure.”

When a business goes out of its way to provide proactive credits or some other form of compensation for an outage, failure, delay or other inconvenience, customers appreciate the gesture.

Needless to say, I was impressed with Delta’s proactive approach. The letter, which arrived less than two weeks after my flight, came without any prompting from me. I didn’t complain to Delta in any way about my delays – no letter, no blog post, not even a phone complaint. They just noticed that my flight was delayed significantly and decided to act on it. Despite having experienced some pretty horrific airline delays in the past, I have never received any sort of proactive apology from an airline, so this was especially interesting to me. more…

Category: Delighting customers, guest blogger | Tags: Customer Service, Delighting customers, douglas hannah, serviceuntitled, Who's Your Gladys | Leave a Comment

Guest Blogger Mary Cantando Asks: Ever Wonder What It’s Like to Be a Customer of Your Own Business?

April 01st, 2010 | Author: Marilyn

Today’s guest blogger is Mary Cantando of The Woman’s Advantage. Mary is a speaker, national magazine columnist, and the author of four books. Her mission is to help women grow multimillion-dollar businesses while living the lives of their dreams.

If you’re like me, you critique other businesses that fall short of their product or service claims. You fume about slow websites, mazes of voicemail, and products that aren’t quite what you expected.

But what about your own business? What does it look like through the eyes of a customer?

Here’s a simple way to analyze your business from the customer’s perspective. For real success, don’t just implement this plan once and forget it, but add it as a quarterly recurring task to your calendar.

5 Steps to Analyze Your Own Business

1. Test drive your website. How fast is it? If you sell products, how easy are they to buy? Do you make customers complete a complicated form to get a simple answer?

2. Call your office. How easy is it to reach the person you need? Is it simple to leave a voicemail and get a callback? more…

Category: Customer Relationship Management, Customer Service, guest blogger | Tags: Best practices, Customer Service, Mary Cantando, WomansAdvantage | Leave a Comment

Customer Service at Its Best – The Value of Social and Emotional Intelligence

March 29th, 2010 | Author: Marilyn

You’ve probably been there. Many of us have attended training events held in hotel ballrooms. To accommodate large groups, and a short time frame for meals, the wait staff have to move fast and accurately to hit every target.

Recently I was part of a training team at the beautiful Hilton Bayfront Hotel in San Diego. My colleague Sue B. Wade went through the buffet line and sat with me. We enjoyed delicious food and good conversation. When I had finished my meal, the wait staff came around to clear the table and make room for dessert. A young waiter made eye contact with Sue. He asked, “May I take your plate?”

Sue hesitated for a split second and then said, “Oh . . . ummm . . . Yes.”

“Are you sure? I can come back later if you aren’t finished,” he said.

Smiling, Sue said, “Well, the beans are really good, and I would like to finish them.”

The waiter nodded with a smile and walked away.

Social and emotional intelligence is the “IT” factor for handling customers with the utmost of care.

As she pushed her fork into the green beans, she turned to me beaming. “That guy has a lot of social and emotional intelligence,” she said. Sue is the founder of Walking the Talk, a brilliant program that builds the character of today’s youth. She is quick to identify these things. I was struck by her words and what I had just witnessed.

Social and emotional intelligence is the “IT” factor for handling customers with the utmost of care. (BONUS! It’s also the key for living a happier, more stress-free life.) In a matter of seconds, the waiter used social skills to check in with Sue before simply removing her plate.

He noticed her plate wasn’t totally empty
He checked in with her before taking the plate
He noted the hesitation in her response, which clued him in that her feelings might not be matching her words.
Then, he checked out his assumption by reassuring her that he could come back if she’d like.

By doing so, she felt cared about and comfortable to keep her plate. more…

Category: Listening, customer service mindset | Tags: Customer Service, emotional intelligence, marilyn suttle, social intelligence, Who's Your Gladys | Leave a Comment

Guest Blogger Kevin Stirtz Shares: Six Steps to More Loyal Customers

March 24th, 2010 | Author: Gladys

Today’s guest blogger is Kevin Stirtz, the Amazing Service Guy. His professional goal is to help one million organizations learn how to deliver Amazing Customer Service to their customers.

We all know it’s important to have loyal customers. But do you know how important it is? A study by Bain & Company suggests that a 5% increase in customer loyalty can improve profitability by anywhere from 25% to 95%. It shows us there are big opportunities available for owners and managers who are willing to do what it takes to increase customer loyalty.

The good news is, it’s not hard. And you can do it with the people and resources you have right now. It takes time, effort and patience to make it successful. But you can make a huge impact on your business.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Ask your customers what they want. This is different than what they expect. What customers expect is usually less (often a lot less) than what they want. But you need to know what they want.

What do they want in general? What are they trying to accomplish (or avoid)? Why did they choose you instead of your competition? What are their priorities and preferences?

Keep in mind different customers focus on different aspects of what your business does and how you do it. But if you speak with enough of them, you should see patterns and trends. You should be able to develop some profiles of what various customers want.

Also, look for how your customers want to be served. This will vary a lot and is harder to discover. Most people focus on what they want because it’s easier to talk about. But people like to be treated well. We all have different definitions of what being treated well means. You need to learn what it means to your customers.

2. Tell your customers what to expect. Some companies try to be all things to all customers. They do too much and none of it well. Every company has a unique set of resources that gives it a competitive advantage. these are your company’s strengths. Learn what they are. Use them to determine what your company can do better than anyone else in your market.

Once you know what your company does best, compare that list with what your customers want. These two lists should overlap. (If they don’t, you have a problem!) Where they overlap is what your company should focus on. These are the things you need to do for your customers: the combination of what they want most and what you do best.

more…